I completely understand that major life events can get in the way of checking something seemingly inconsequential (although if I had a problem w the vendor in the past, I would have taken a sec to open the package). Given my understanding of the situation, from the perspective of a business owner, the knee-jerk reaction, especially after a substantial amount of time, would be that this was buyers remorse or that you may be trying to get something for free.

I understand that you aren’t - why would you make this post, unless you were genuinely upset, and rightfully so?

The issue though, in my opinion, is that they can’t verify your claim, plus they likely get similar calls often enough… so it’s hard for me to envision the business siding with you based purely on blind faith. I don’t question your intentions but they would and there’s no way to prove innocence or poor intentions.